I searched for a better way to say this but I couldn't find one. I had thought about saying it the day before but I decided not on her birthday.
"You had sex with another man in three different affairs, you decided not to try to work on our relationship taking the easy way out, you lied to me and you denied me so you could have sex with him."
As I listed the first three things she looked sad but when I stated the last one she rapidly shook her head.
"No, I never denied you...Well, I did but not for him. Yes I cheated, I lied and I took the chicken way out of dealing with our problems but I never ever said no to you so I could have sex with him. Sometimes I said no because I was angry or hurt but never for that reason."
I believed her but it didn't change what I was feeling all that much. I nodded, said I would be in touch and that I wasn't saying good bye because it wasn't good but I would be in touch.
I ended with "I have thinking to do to see what I feel and what I want." before I walked out the door.
I didn't call her that day or the day after or the month after. I did respond to some of her e-mails.
I listened to her new radio show. Evidently they wanted her to use two names because she was back to calling herself Shannon Passing. She was right; she did talk less. I wasn't sure if I liked all of the music she played but I wanted to listen to her.
One morning, a month after her birthday she said something that caught my attention. I looked up from the report I was typing and said, "What did she say?"
This morning my secretary, who was in my office, answered, "She said something about being pregnant."
I blinked thinking back over what I had heard but not listened to. Sure enough she had said, "As much as I'm enjoying this set I may have to take some time off in the mornings in the next few months because of morning sickness... yes that means I'm preggers."
She then went to a song. I was shocked, wondering how far along she was and whose it was.
When the song was over she said whom the singer had been adding, "I'm about a month along. I know because I know I got knocked up on my birthday. My husband and I spent much of the day alone and naked... I hope my husband will be happy with his child."
I don't know if any one else caught it but she sounded sad when she said that last sentence.
She went to a song and when it was over she added, "If it's a boy I hope it looks like him and if it's a girl I hope it looks like me, a girl would look funny with his face even though he's handsome."
She went to another song. I thought she was doing it that way on purpose more than because of that station's rules about talking.
Without thinking I said, "I thought she was having problems with her husband."
"She might be, she has been with another man, she lived with him for a while, but doesn't seem to be living with or seeing anyone right now."
I looked at Edith, my secretary, in surprise wondering if she had been following my wife around.
"How do you know that?"
"You know that local gossip columnist, she covers Passing every now and then."
"The gossip rags cover her?"
"Sometimes, but I'm surprised, since you're a fan of hers, that you don't look for gossip about her."
"I never thought she was big enough to have them following her exploits," I said a little bit shocked, "and I'm not that big a fan of hers."
I thought that would explain how some of her fans knew things about her.
She shrugged and said, "You may not be but you did follow her from her old station. But don't worry about it, I don't think you have anything to worry about, your wife has nothing to be jealous of."
I almost shouted at her to stay out of my personal business but I stopped myself. I looked at her wondering if she knew my wife and Passing were the same person. I hadn't told anyone about our separation or changed her status in my file, but Edith along with some coworkers might be curious about why she hadn't been around or why she had missed two parties.
I soon forgot about if she knew or not however as my wife came back on and said, "I hope there are some good sales on maternity clothes, I will be needing some soon even though I'm just a month along."
I wasn't sure if it was my imagination but I thought she placed some emphasis on "just a month along". I thought she might be sending me a message, but why hadn't she sent an E-mail telling me about it? In either case I decided to visit her that afternoon.
I went about my job and about three I left work early giving a family matter as my excuse. I was taking a chance not calling her but I thought she might be resting up. I knew she usually liked to spend the afternoon catching up on certain TV shows and doing housework.
On the way over I had made a couple of decisions. I knew she would more than likely not like one of them but I didn't care. I saw her car in the parking lot so I knew she was home. I hoped she was alone; it could be awkward if she wasn't and especially awkward if John was with her.
I knocked and it took her a minute to answer. I was just starting to sweat thinking she wasn't alone. She was as it turned out. She looked surprised to see me and quickly asked me to come in.
Even though I had promised myself I wouldn't say it the first thing out of my mouth was, "How are you feeling?"
Her eyes widen in surprise, "You know?"
So the message wasn't to me after all. Maybe it had been to her fans or to John if she had spoken the truth about not seeing him anymore.
"I heard the announcement on your show."
Her eyes widened again, "You still listen to me?"
"Yes, I never stopped."
"I thought you hated me. You never called like you promised and you're terse with your E-mails."
"No I don't hate you. I still love you. That is why it took so long for me to decide anything. If I hated you we would be divorced already. I don't know if my love is enough though."
She nodded and I continued, "I should add the reason I waited so long to decide is that I was acting like a coward. I've been avoiding that decision which wasn't right of me."
"But you never contacted with me."
"Nothing besides the E-mails."
She nodded acknowledging my point.
"Is that why you didn't tell me you were pregnant because you thought I hated you?"
She nodded again, maybe unable to speak.
"I came here today because I have three things to say. One of them you're not going to like. The first is: get your stuff we are going on a maternity clothes shopping spree. You can buy anything you want. If we don't find enough clothes that you think will fit later we can get a couple of cards that you can use when you get bigger."
"What are the other two things you want to say."
"Later, when we come back."
She nodded and got her purse. We went to six different stores. She was happy searching through all the cute maternity clothes. She tried on a bunch at each store. We ended up with four bags full of clothes and another three outfits on hangers I had to carry. Some of the outfits included a couple of shorter outfits with a contemporary cut that were probably for wearing around the radio station, I thought. In one store she stared at the maternity nightgowns. She turned back to look at me for a moment with a very sad look on her face. In my mind I marked the ones she had stared at.
On the way home she reached across her seat placing her hand on my arm and said, "Thank you."
I patted her hand, smiled at her for a second and said, "You're welcome."
Once back at her place she hung up the clothes on the hangers than sat down.
"What are the other two things you wanted to say?"
"On the way over here I was thinking that I could turn one of the guest rooms into a nursery."
She looked at me with a puzzled expression, which turned to shock then to anger. She came out of the chair with a furious look on her face.
"You're not going to take my baby."